Dinky Hooves was miserable.
Following an argument with her mother, Ponyville's resident mailmare, she had run off, and with tears staining her vision, she had ended up storming into the local cursed forest. While the thick woods were a lot less scary after efforts had been made to reclaim the land with the Elements of Harmony, it was still no less petrifying for a young filly to be lost in as the sun started to slowly drift under the horizon.
Dinky couldn't even recall what her fight was about now that she was lost deep in the thicket, something that had seemed so important, critical to proving she wasn't just a child anymore to her mother. But now that she was alone, with only the noises of wildlife, and the creaking of these woods, all she wanted was to be held by her mum again.
She was sprawled out in a clearing, wiping her eyes to rid them of the tears that kept invading her sight. Her ears twisted to focus on any noises nearby that might be a scary monster about to pounce on her. Dinky could hardly believe how stupid she was.
The sky above had turned a dark lavender, and she could see that it was fighting a winning battle against the glowing orange that heralded the sun's descent. The pinpricks of stars began to make their appearance in the inky darkness high above her. It would be beautiful if it wasn't followed by the thought of being in the Everfree Forest after dark.
Dinky could be home right now, chowing down on some freshly baked muffins, telling her mum about her day at school, or prattling on about the newest adventures her friends had gone on to help another pony get their cutie mark. Her mum would have diligently listened, and hung on to every word, before kissing her forehead and drawing her a bath.
But instead, she was cold, alone, and hurt, in a patch of grass surrounded by tall lanky trees. Their branches were warped into reaching arms, barren of leaves, instead coated in an unhealthy amount of ivy and moss. If the filly looked too closely, it would almost seem as if the trees themselves were sneering down at her, with rotted faces deep within their trunks.
And so, she continued to sob, deciding that she couldn't fight the onslaught of tears that ran down her muzzle. Weeping into her hooves at the thought that she would never be able to taste her mum's baking again, or to be held in her warm hugs.
Occupied with her suffering, she didn't notice the white glow until it was directly in front of her.
'This is it...' she thought, 'a monster has come to make me its dinner,'
Instead, with her eyes shut tight, she felt a warm presence against the top of her head, as if somepony had laid their muzzle atop hers. Bewildered, she cracked an eye open, and what she saw felt like it sprang straight from a children's book.
An ethereal deer, radiating a warm white glow, stood in front of her, its hooves ended before they touched the grass below, and were instead little clouds of a thick fog. Beautiful and vibrant flowers sprung from the ground where she expected the hooves would be.
It looked faintly like how ghosts had been drawn in the stories her mum read to her on the evenings close to Nightmare Night. See-through and wispy, with glowing yellow eyes gazing down at her. Instead of being petrified, she felt oddly at peace. A calming aura emitted from this ghost, and Dinky knew she was in no danger while this thing stood above her.
They kept like that for a while, Dinky's tears finally halting their unrelenting push forward, as she was warmed by the soft presence of this new companion. One of its cloudy forelegs brushed against her muzzle, helping clean off the darkened patches of fur under her eyes.
"I'm... I'm lost. Can you bring me back to my mummy?" Dinky's voice was raspy, a side effect of her sobbing ruining her vocal cords.
The deer didn't speak, but its glowing eyes looked as if it understood. Raising itself to its full height, it began to walk toward the trees, before stopping and turning back to Dinky. It beckoned her with a hoof.
She didn't need to be told twice, and Dinky picked herself up and began to follow, noticing the new flowers that had appeared in the ghost's trodden path. As she stepped forward, she noticed her back leg was hurting, and when she looked back, she saw it was bleeding from a cut she must have acquired as a gift when she ran through the woods earlier. She almost started crying again, until the deer noticed her pause, and trotted back next to her.
The deer's muzzle brushed against the cut, wiping away some of the blood that oozed from it, and while the cut itself didn't disappear, it did stop bleeding. After gazing upon their handiwork, the ghost brought itself down to its haunches, and then laid down, its head moving to look upon Dinky's.
A bit confused, she soon realised that her friend wanted her to climb aboard her back, and so, with a little struggle, she was able to mount her new noble steed, her front hooves wrapped around the ghost's neck. Once she was properly secured and didn't think she would fall, her friend rose and began to trot off into the woods again, though in a different direction to last time.
The birds chirped above her, singing lullabies and tweeting sweet goodnights to one another as the moon began to shine in the sky. Crickets started their song and dance in the undergrowth, while fireflies began shining their beautiful lights around the pair as they began their trek into the woods.
Dinky soon realised how tired she was, exhausted from the emotional evening and the running from earlier, and started to drift off atop the deer's back. As her eyes grew heavy and began to close, she could have sworn she heard humming coming from the deer.
Dinky Hooves was at peace.
She awoke to find herself in a beautiful green grove, not knowing where she was, other than that it was safe. She didn't know how she knew this, but it just felt right. Though, she did soon realise she was alone, her new friend no longer with her. She stood up a bit, but her back leg still agitated her, and before she could call out to find the spirit, she heard a rustling behind some bushes nearby.
The inquisitive filly tried gazing through the gaps in the green leaves, not seeing that familiar white glow, but instead a large creature standing on two limbs. Its back was turned to her, but she could hear it softly humming and whistling to itself as it messed with some glass objects on a rock in front of it, rattling and twinkling as they were brought close to one another.
She knew that she should have felt something else, something more attuned to fear, or surprise, but she just felt... calm. A soft breeze blew through the grove, flowers brustling in the slight push that flowed between them, the sound of a fire crackling in a small pit nearby, as burning logs spat and sparked into the night sky above.
Dinky had no idea what time it was, and thinking about it, her breathing began to speed up as she realised how worried her mother was. Hearing the audible panicked breaths, the creature turned around towards the filly and started to slowly approach as it lowered itself to a less threatening height.
Once in front of her, Dinky was able to gaze upon this bizarre oddity, taking note of its odd skin and clothing. It appeared to be wearing a type of dress, similar to the ones she had been forced to wear with her mum during Ponyville's various celebrations, or seen through the windows of the Carousel Boutique. It flowed in a constant unseen wind, similar to the Princesses' manes, but was decorated with various branches, leaves, and flowers.
Running down its upper limbs were spiraling branches of ivy, wrapping around the arms until they reached the ends, where this creature's soft claws were. The skin underneath was a light chocolate colour, with darker patterns in black paint flowing through them. Some were simple lines, others were intricate drawings of flowers or various creatures.
Its face appeared to be hidden behind a wooden mask, two white spirals where its eyes must've been. Other than those, the rest of the mask was an almost triangular shape, with curved edges along the bottom, and two long branches acting as horns atop them.
Behind this wooden mask, she could see a very long mane, the colour of the night sky, sprinkled with small flowers growing out of it, as well as white streaks in the occasional strand.
It looked beautiful.
It crouched down in front of Dinky, raising one of its upper limbs and resting its palm on her cheek. It tilted its head, and she could have sworn the eyes on the mask looked as if they were meant to accompany a smile. It reminded her of how her mother would hold her head when she had scratched her face in a spout of reckless galloping through the park.
Though, with all the sense of motherhood and ease it emitted, Dinky's fear of how her own mother must be feeling prevailed.
"My mum, she... she's going to be so worried!" the filly managed to say, almost having to force the words out. Instead of the being talking back, Dinky instead felt its response.
Be not afraid
The filly's face contorted at the odd sensation, but she managed to wrangle in her breathing and returned to a normal pattern. Seeing the small unicorn calm itself down, the creature nodded and returned to their stone desk, mixing two glass bottles, before returning with a wooden bowl that was filled with a thick red paste.
It softly applied this substance to Dinky's cut leg, making sure to not agitate the wound. It was cold to the touch, but within moments the cut was gone. After carefully testing her leg by stretching it, she could tell it was as if it had never been hurt at all.
"Thank you," Dinky looked into the mask's spiraling eyes, gazing upon her healer's 'face'. She still had some questions though, and the one that ultimately felt most important came first, "Do you know where my ghost friend went? I want to thank them too..."
The creature stiffened for a moment and cocked its head. Dinky feared she said something to upset them before she heard something she did not expect.
Giggling. The creature in front of her, this woodland animal, was giggling. It sounded like a young mare softly laughing at a joke that she shouldn't find funny. It stayed like that for a couple of moments, living in its moment of joy, before it took notice of Dinky's perplexed face.
Restraining herself, the creature raised an arm to his mask and began to lift. Underneath was an odd face, a protruding small nose, and two large eyes that were lush green in colour, reflecting that of the grove around the pair. Its lips were fleshy and upturned into a grin, showing some of the white teeth hidden behind.
The same black paint was on all sides of her face, decorated as vines that climbed along her neck and chin, stopping just below the mouth, while a couple of individual branches reached up to her forehead.
And then, unlike before, she spoke. "I am your ghost, young one," her voice was delicate and soothing, "and you're so very welcome."
Dinky stared into the pools of her eyes, the miniature garden worlds that swirled inside, and then she smiled too. She reached forward and hugged her new friend.
"Can you help me get home? I'm worried about my mum." Their embrace ended, but the taller figure still rested one of its hands atop the pony's shoulder.
"Ah, fear not my little pony, she's aware of where you are, and we'll be meeting her soon," As if coordinated, a small plump bluejay landed on the spirit's arm and tweeted something to her. She nodded in understanding, gave the bird a little scratch with a finger under its beak, and then it flew off. "It seems we'll start walking now, she's almost to where I told her to go."
"Can... Can you carry me again? It felt nice." Dinky blushed slightly at her request, suddenly surprised by her audacity. Again, the spirit giggled and then lifted the pony, letting her sit upon her shoulders, the mask being moved to dangle from her waist.
"Of course, let's get you back. She sounded like a lovely mother." The spirit said as it started walking towards a wall of vines, which spread apart at her approach with a small wave of one of her arms.
"I don't want to be rude, but who, and what are you?" Dinky asked, again kicking herself over how she said something before thinking. Instead of an annoyed response, the creature was silent for a bit.
"I'm... a very old being, from even before the Princesses were born," A small gasp came from atop the spirit's head, "And my name is Everfree. This is my forest."
A bombshell of information with just a few words, Dinky was floored. Her friend was older than the Princesses? And the Everfree Forest was hers?!
"Why are there so many monsters in your forest? You don't sound like somepony who would let them live here."
A somber silence filled the air as they continued to walk, and Dinky felt the spirit's mood alter a bit. She could tell she was remembering a memory, and trying to find the words to talk. She had seen the same emotions run through her mums face many times before.
"When I was younger and new to these lands, I was still trying to control my powers. In my stupidity I brought to life creatures I had once read about when I was your age. They were... my first friends in these lands. As time went on, they stopped listening to me, had children of their own, and now they run wild and free. I wish they did not harm the ponies but I won't take away the gifts I gave them so long ago."
"So you're like, this forest's mummy?" The filly asked, raising a hoof to her chin while the other was holding onto the spirit's long mane.
Another giggle seemed to echo and bounce off the trees around them, which appeared to lighten up in their creator's presence. "In a way, yes."
They continued to chat away as they continued their trek through the woods. Lively green grass sprouted from beneath them, breathing newfound life into a long-forgotten path. Flowers of all different assortments of colours blossomed all around as the pair giggled together. Sharing stories of the past, about Derpy Hooves' various muffin recipes, and the first creation of the Timberwolf.
Finally, Everfree slowed and brought Dinky down to the floor. "My current appearance can be frightening when I'm not in my little home, so I'll be returning to that... ghost, from earlier," She giggled again at the memory, "I can't talk like this when I'm in that form, so this is the last I can talk to you like this."
As Dinky opened her mouth to object, Everfree raised a finger, "But, this is not a farewell. If you ever find yourself in these woods again and need help getting home, or just want a friend to speak to, just say these words into the wind, and I'll be right there."
Dinky silenced herself, and gave the woman her full attention, preparing to engrave the words into her memory. The spirit simply smiled at her expression, and said, "'Oly Oly Oxen Free', and when I am coming to you, you'll hear me say, 'We're all free in the Everfree.'"
The filly nodded several times, saying the phrase back to herself. Before looking upon the woman as she slowly morphed into a translucent white deer. She leaned down to nuzzle Dinky, and nodded her head forwards, towards the edge of the forest. They began to walk forward slowly before the small unicorn spotted a grey pegasus with a blonde mane in the grass beyond the trees. A worried expression plastered on her face.
Dinky broke out into a full gallop and jumped into her mother's hooves, hugging her tighter than she had ever held her before.
"Oh Dinks, I was so worried! Are you ok? I'm so sorry about earlier! I baked you your favourite muffins!" Derpy Hooves flustered the words out, hugging her daughter right back.
"I'm ok mum, I'm sorry I ran off, I was stupid and-" Derpy interrupted her, and kissed her on her forehead.
"Don't be silly, it's all okay now. Just, never run off into those woods again, ok?"
Dinky simply nodded into her mother's chest, appreciating the warm embrace they both shared. After a handful of moments, which they both wished would last forever, they broke their hug, and they looked towards the treeline. Standing there was a magnificent ethereal deer. Wispy and cloudy as life sprung around it, and from what Dinky could tell, more fierce than before. Life sprouted in a much wider area, as trees began to grow full bushes atop their branches.
"She helped me when I was lost," Dinky said, looking in the deer's direction.
"I know, she sent the cutest little bluebird with a message, telling me you're okay." Derpy shared the moment drinking in the beauty of the creature in front of them both. "Can I hug you?"
The deer looked bashful, hiding its face for a moment, before slowly walking towards the pair, and welcoming the tight embrace from the larger of the two. "Thank you for helping us, how can I repay you?" The deer started to shake its head before the pegasus interrupted her, "Please, it's the least we can do. How about we bake you something?"
The spirit stopped and pondered for a moment before slowly nodding its head, and then nuzzled both ponies. They shared this moment as a trio, before the deer broke contact, looked at them both, and turned around, returning to care for the forest, her own child.
Dinky and Derpy hadn't fought since that day. Their hugs were tighter, and their love was stronger. Each weekend, they would both bake a plethora of baked treats and head to a little grass patch in Everfree's Forest. They would set up a little picnic blanket, some cups, and various types of beverages, ranging from teas to sodas (at Dinky's request), as well as some story books from Ponyville's library. Once they were all prepared, Derpy would nod to Dinky, who would say into the wind, "Oly Oly Oxen Free."
And each time the wind would whisper back, "We're all free in the Everfree."